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How do you do?
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Mr Mark Gatiss feels
that it would be unkind to present
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this programme without just
a word of friendly warning.
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We are about to unfold
the story of horror films,
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of the men and women of
the motion picture community
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who sought to create monsters,
without reckoning upon God.
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I think it will inform you,
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it will entertain you,
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it might even horrify you.
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So if any of you feel that you do not wish
to subject your nerves to such excitement,
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now's the time to...
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Well, we warned you.
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The cinema
was made for horror movies.
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No other kind of film offers that
same mysterious anticipation
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as you head into
a darkened auditorium.
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It's alive! It's alive! It's alive!
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No other makes such powerful
use of sound and image.
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The cinema is where we come to share
a collective dream, and horror films
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are the most dreamlike of all, perhaps
because they engage with our nightmares.
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I hear something. Stop! Stop!
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CHAINSAW SOUNDS
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In this series, I'm going to revisit
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the three greatest eras
of horror pictures
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and explore what made
their finest films so special.
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I'll venture onto the locations
of unforgettable horror moments,
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and invite leading actors, writers
and directors to share their stories.
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There's a little shrine to me here.
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This should be an eternal flame.
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Or a huge knife! So whether you're
a dyed in the blood horror fan
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or a nervous newcomer,
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I bid you welcome.
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Of all the things that have inspired me as a writer
and actor, horror films have been the most important.
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I still have very vivid
and very happy memories
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of staying up late in the 1970s to watch double
bills of Hammer films and old Universal films.
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I was always, as my mam used to say, a very morbid
child, and I was totally crackers about horror films.
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I even used to watch
Pro-Celebrity Golf
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just in case Christopher Lee used
to pop up, as he occasionally did.
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I think what always
appealed to me most
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was just the sense of going into a different realm,
a realm of shadows and suggestion and spookiness.
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Because horror is such a personal passion of
mine, this series will be unashamedly selective.
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I'm going to build my account around
my favourite films and periods.
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An age which begins with this moment
from 1925's silent Phantom of the Opera.
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The Phantom, played by Lon Chaney, has warned Mary
Philbin's character never to look beneath his mask.
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It's a classic, shocking reveal.
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And it captures the essence
of being a horror movie fan.
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It's about knowing you
shouldn't look but wanting to see.
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And then maybe getting more
than you bargained for.
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Horror cinema is replete
with pioneering film -makers.
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Few more so than the man beneath the Phantom's
make-up, Lon Chaney, the godfather of horror actors.
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Chaney was one of the giants
of 1920s Hollywood,
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and among his few surviving
contemporaries
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is a fellow cast member
from the Phantom, Carla Laemmle.
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The niece of the founder of Universal
studios, she's now a spry centenarian.
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I can only say he was a genius.
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Whatever part that he played,
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he was that part.
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There's a story that Mary Philbin
fainted when she took off his mask.
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It could have been true because
it was enough to make anybody faint!
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Lon Chaney, the man
of a thousand faces,
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played a succession of maimed
and monstrous characters
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during the silent era,
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in films like The Hunchback Of Notre
Dame and London After Midnight.
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His self-taught make-up skills drew on his
background in travelling vaudeville and theatre.
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Chaney described his talent as
"extraordinary characterisation. "
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He did all his own make-up
and it was pretty horrible.
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Yes, all that! I don't know
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how he did it himself, but he did.
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Exactly how Chaney achieved his
make-up effects has always intrigued me.
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Fortunately, just as the Phantom lurked below
the Paris Opera, the relics of Chaney can be found
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in the bowels of the Los Angeles
Natural History Museum,
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under the custodianship
of Beth Werling.
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So Beth, what treasures
do you have for us here?
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We have Lon Chaney's make-up kit.
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There he is, Lon F Chaney,
Hollywood, California.
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Wow, it's extraordinary.
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Holy relics.
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What's in here? This is one of
the glass eyes
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that Chaney had especially made.
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It's particularly gruesome
in its own little box, isn't it?
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Mm-hmm! When I was a kid, I kind of grew up
with the stories of the lengths he went to
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to create these things. He put himself
through an unbelievable amount of pain.
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And that's an example of that.
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To wear something that thick, covering over almost
your entire eye, couldn't have been comfortable.
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It's not exactly a permeable lens,
is it! No, definitely not.
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It's like putting a billiard ball
in your eye.
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It's now believed that Chaney achieved
the Phantom's famous missing nose effect
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using thin wire to pull his own nose back,
creating that truncated, snout-like look.
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Remarkably, he did much of this
working on his own,
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but it turns out
he had something to practise on.
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Wow...
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This is a life cast that Chaney
had made of his own face,
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with glass eyes inserted.
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He used this to practise
some of his make-up techniques.
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He would take a look, see if he needed
a little more here, a little less there.
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If he didn't like the look entirely,
it was much easier to scrub it off
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and to decide, looking at
yourself in a mirror, so to speak,
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than to actually apply it
on his own face.
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It's quite fitting that someone so
obsessed with bodily dismemberment
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ends up with his own head in a box!
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THEY LAUGH
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According to Hollywood legend,
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Chaney's ghost still haunts the
Paris Opera set at Universal Studios,
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which, remarkably, has survived as
a grand monument to the silent age.
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It's also a reminder that for all
Chaney's astonishing transformation,
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The Phantom of the Opera is as much an exercise in
epic spectacle as it is a claustrophobic horror picture.
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That's probably because
Universal's founder, Carl Laemmle,
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was no fan of horrific material.
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But The Phantom's success helped
his ambitious son and partner,
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Carl Laemmle Junior,
to persuade him otherwise.
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Carl Laemmle Junior
now set his sights
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on an even more chilling property,
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Bram Stoker's sensational
vampire novel, Dracula.
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Junior envisaged another
extravagant production.
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But he was about to
have his wings clipped.
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1929 saw the Wall Street Crash and
the beginning of the Great Depression.
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Like other Hollywood studios,
Universal had cash flow problems
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which meant it had to
scale down its productions.
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Fortunately, Junior came across another, more
cost effective way of telling the Dracula story.
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Stoker's novel had been adapted for
a modest British touring production
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which had gone on to
become an unexpected hit.
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For ease of staging, this was a kind of drawing-room
Dracula, set largely in a Hampstead house.
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And the play had transformed Stoker's
hairy, moustached, rank-breathed old count
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into a more elegant figure who could
be welcomed into London society.
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As for me,
I am a stranger in a strange land.
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Yet I have grown to love this great
London with its teeming millions,
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so different from
my own land of Transylvania.
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After all, the walls of my castle
are broken, the shadows are many,
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and the wind breathes cold
through the broken battlements.
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The play ruthlessly
cut back the action
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and locations of Stoker's novel
and added rather a lot of talking.
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But that didn't bother
Junior Laemmle.
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Dracula was going to be the
first horror picture with sound.
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You're in the very
first scene of Dracula.
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Oh, yes, the opening scene, and I
say the first lines of dialogue.
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Can you remember them? I'll try!
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"Among the rugged peaks that frown
down upon the Borgo Pass
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"are found crumbling castles
of a bygone age. "
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Among the rugged peaks that frown
down upon the Borgo Pass
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are found crumbling castles
of a bygone age.
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Hooray, I did it! I can't remember lines
that I was supposed to learn yesterday.
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As well as basing itself
on the play's script,
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the film also took on the play's Broadway
lead, a Hungarian actor called Bela Lugosi.
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I am Dracula.
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A veteran of Budapest's leading
theatres, Lugosi's American career
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had previously been limited
by his accent.
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Listen to them.
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Children of the night.
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What music they make!
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Lugosi's somewhat drawn-out delivery
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helps render the film's many
dialogue scenes rather ponderous.
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Hollywood was still getting the hang of talkies,
and director Tod Browning was on surer ground
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in the film's wordless sequences.
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Here Lugosi becomes a shadowy figure
who comes to get you while you sleep.
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You can see why people might have found this
terrifying and in some cases, illicitly thrilling.
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Were you aware of anyone finding him
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exotically attractive
in a Valentino way?
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He had a charm.
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I mean, you could call him handsome,
his dark eyes and all of that.
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He had this tremendous power of
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attracting you. Almost, you
couldn't resist the guy, you know?
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Lugosi's charisma aside, the film
rarely rises above its stage origins.
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We never even see a drop of blood
or the flash of a fang.
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That's why it's a particular treat to get a
closer look at another surviving cast member.
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Not so frightening looking now.
I'm not so sure!
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What's it made of?
It's basically a wire skeleton
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or frame and over it they stretched
some heavy duty cotton fabric.
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I assumed it would be rubber
or something.
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No, it gave it a much more realistic
look flapping in the wind
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with the fabric
than it would with rubber.
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No, Master,
I wasn't going to say anything.
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I told him nothing.
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I'm loyal to you, Master!
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Do we know what this hair's made of?
No, but I wouldn't be surprised
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if it turned out to be some kind
of domesticated animal.
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One of Chaney's old hairpieces!
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For all its limitations, Dracula had the
supernatural, it had sound, it had Lugosi.
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The combination
was a box office smash.
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You could say Dracula was the first
modern horror film. But it lacks something.
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Dracula features some atmospheric settings -
dark, decaying castles and cobwebby crypts -
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but it doesn't really capture that
gothic sensibility, the heightened
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atmosphere of romance and morbidity
that makes the novel so thrilling.
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Now take a look at this.
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The moon's rising.
We've no time to lose.
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CLANGING
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Careful! Within the first
minutes of Frankenstein,
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we find ourselves in one of
the grimmest graveyards in cinema...
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Here he comes.
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.. watching a freshly buried coffin exhumed,
and caressed with necrophilic tenderness.
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He's just resting,
waiting for a new life to come.
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This is a film with no inhibitions
about embracing the dark and macabre.
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Frankenstein was shot only
a few months after Dracula.
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But in its daring tone and stylish
execution, it's a massive leap forward.
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It's alive. It's alive.
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It's alive. It's moving.
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It's alive. It's alive! It's alive!
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It's alive!
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In the name of God,
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now I know what it
feels like to be God!
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THUNDER
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But exactly who was alive
under all those bandages?
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Universal originally wanted
Bela Lugosi to play the creature,
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even promoting the film with him in
the role before it had been shot.
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But after what would now be called "creative
differences", Lugosi left the project.
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The picture was handed to an up and
coming English director, James Whale.
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He needed to find a monster.
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Fast.
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Sitting in the Universal canteen one day, Whale
spotted a fellow diner and beckoned him over.
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"Your face", he said,
"has startling possibilities. "
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The owner of that face
was another ex-pat Englishman,
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whose birth name
was William Henry Pratt.
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Pratt's distinctive features owed
something to Indian blood in his family.
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After more than two decades of
theatre work and bit parts in films,
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he'd become resigned
to never having a major role.
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His stage name was Boris Karloff.
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It was my father's 81st film.
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And no one had seen
the first 80, essentially.
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So, after 20 years in the business,
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my father became
an overnight success.
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In August 1931, James Whale began filming Frankenstein
at Universal, on sets such as this very one.
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But for the first week of shooting
at least, one key player
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was conspicuous by his absence -
the monster himself.
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He was undergoing a fittingly
gruelling process of creation.
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But the result would be
one of cinema's most enduring icons.
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Here he comes.
Let's turn out the light.
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APPROACHING FOOTSTEPS
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Karloff had been placed under the auspices
of Universal's head of make-up, Jack Pierce,
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00:20:44,738 --> 00:20:47,388
who spent two weeks working
directly with him
230
00:20:47,423 --> 00:20:51,223
on top of the six months he had
already spent researching ideas.
231
00:20:54,033 --> 00:20:58,813
Pierce's monster is surely one of the
greatest make-up designs in cinema.
232
00:20:58,848 --> 00:21:00,938
Visionary, but credible.
233
00:21:00,973 --> 00:21:03,419
Thought through
with a chilling logic.
234
00:21:05,003 --> 00:21:07,878
The top of the head
is misshapen and stitched
235
00:21:07,913 --> 00:21:11,531
because a different brain has been
placed in another man's cranium.
236
00:21:14,143 --> 00:21:16,680
It also adds to Karloff's height.
237
00:21:19,493 --> 00:21:20,668
The bolts in the neck,
238
00:21:20,703 --> 00:21:24,338
often thought of simply
as screws holding the head on,
239
00:21:24,373 --> 00:21:27,973
are in fact the electrodes
used to reanimate the corpse.
240
00:21:28,008 --> 00:21:31,534
This is a face
which really does tell a story.
241
00:21:35,853 --> 00:21:40,779
But the heart of the film, what has made
it immortal, is Karloff's performance.
242
00:21:42,463 --> 00:21:48,273
In his hands, the monster becomes so much
more than just a brilliant piece of make-up.
243
00:21:48,308 --> 00:21:49,968
It understands this time.
244
00:21:50,003 --> 00:21:53,333
It's wonderful. Frankenstein,
Frankenstein! Where is it? Where is it?
245
00:21:53,368 --> 00:21:56,575
HE SCREAMS
Quiet, you fool!
246
00:21:59,153 --> 00:22:01,318
Get away with that torch!
247
00:22:01,353 --> 00:22:06,609
Initially childlike and gentle,
he's only later goaded into violence
248
00:22:11,193 --> 00:22:17,993
Do you think he identified with
the monster as society's outsider?
249
00:22:18,028 --> 00:22:22,077
I think that, probably due to
his own personal experiences...
250
00:22:23,623 --> 00:22:30,843
.. as a young boy in school, he experienced a
lot of prejudice because of his dark colouring.
251
00:22:30,878 --> 00:22:35,778
He understood that looking
different makes a difference.
252
00:22:35,813 --> 00:22:42,707
I think he brought some of his own personal
experience to his interpretation of this role.
253
00:22:44,433 --> 00:22:47,258
He always said that children got it.
254
00:22:47,293 --> 00:22:54,418
They understood that the creature was
the victim and not the perpetrator.
255
00:22:54,453 --> 00:23:01,543
The little girl in Frankenstein was
never afraid of him in his make-up.
256
00:23:01,578 --> 00:23:04,649
Ah, yes. The little girl.
257
00:23:06,323 --> 00:23:13,217
This was where James Whale's risk-taking
got a little too far ahead of the times.
258
00:23:14,763 --> 00:23:20,218
Malibou Lake is scarcely half an hour's drive from
Hollywood, but it feels like a different world.
259
00:23:20,253 --> 00:23:26,863
And it was in this idyllic setting that the first
truly controversial scene in horror cinema was shot.
260
00:23:30,233 --> 00:23:32,578
I can make a boat.
261
00:23:32,613 --> 00:23:34,924
See how mine floats?
262
00:23:45,613 --> 00:23:47,763
HE GRUNTS
263
00:23:54,983 --> 00:23:57,565
No! You're hurting me! No!
264
00:24:02,113 --> 00:24:05,828
Even today, the killing of
a child on screen is shocking.
265
00:24:05,863 --> 00:24:09,918
Back in 1931, it was considered
by many to be wholly unacceptable.
266
00:24:09,953 --> 00:24:13,838
Censors in several American states
and countries, including Britain,
267
00:24:13,873 --> 00:24:17,688
insisted on cutting away before
little Maria is thrown into the lake.
268
00:24:17,723 --> 00:24:23,213
Universal themselves re-edited all the prints of
the film when it was reissued a few years later.
269
00:24:23,248 --> 00:24:26,728
The original scene wouldn't be
restored for another 50 years.
270
00:24:32,493 --> 00:24:37,510
Frankenstein's heady content didn't
stop it from storming the box office.
271
00:24:39,433 --> 00:24:45,363
With two hits in a row, horror was now well and
truly established as a proper cinematic genre,
272
00:24:45,398 --> 00:24:51,293
and Lugosi's Dracula and Karloff's monster were
the twin pillars upon which it had been built.
273
00:25:02,682 --> 00:25:06,862
Other Hollywood studios were quick
to respond. The result was a flowering
274
00:25:06,897 --> 00:25:10,093
of imagination and innovation.
275
00:25:11,642 --> 00:25:15,112
Paramount's Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde featured a dazzling,
276
00:25:15,147 --> 00:25:17,517
single shot transformation
sequence,
277
00:25:17,552 --> 00:25:23,312
heightened by a subjective camera that enables
us to experience it through Jekyll's own eyes.
278
00:25:23,347 --> 00:25:26,873
HE CHOKES
279
00:25:29,552 --> 00:25:33,812
The secret to the trick
was a rotating filter on the camera
280
00:25:33,847 --> 00:25:37,197
which revealed layers
of different coloured make-up.
281
00:25:37,232 --> 00:25:42,534
The sequence helped Fredric March
win the best actor Oscar in 1932.
282
00:25:45,632 --> 00:25:50,502
Warner Brothers were best known for their gritty
gangster pictures, so it's not surprising that they
283
00:25:50,537 --> 00:25:55,201
broke with the gothic tradition and set
their horror films in the present day.
284
00:25:59,742 --> 00:26:03,632
Mystery Of The Wax Museum
was shot in early Technicolor,
285
00:26:03,667 --> 00:26:05,097
which gives disturbing,
286
00:26:05,132 --> 00:26:08,082
lifelike flesh tones
to these melting wax figures
287
00:26:08,117 --> 00:26:10,949
in the film's striking
opening sequence.
288
00:26:18,252 --> 00:26:24,877
In a sensationally creepy plot which would
later inspire the wonderful Carry On Screaming,
289
00:26:24,912 --> 00:26:31,192
Lionel Atwill plays a sculptor who steals corpses
and embalms them in wax to exhibit in his museum.
290
00:26:33,912 --> 00:26:36,687
When Atwill decides to try his
technique on Fay Wray,
291
00:26:36,722 --> 00:26:41,552
the film achieves a memorable
variation on The Phantom's unmasking.
292
00:26:41,587 --> 00:26:44,412
It still makes
my hair stand on end today.
293
00:26:44,447 --> 00:26:46,300
Let me go! Let me go, let me go!
294
00:26:52,192 --> 00:26:54,683
SHE SCREAMS
295
00:26:58,202 --> 00:27:00,417
Splendid films, both.
296
00:27:00,452 --> 00:27:03,227
So why aren't they as well
remembered as Universal's?
297
00:27:03,262 --> 00:27:09,826
Perhaps it's because their monsters just weren't as
rich and nuanced as Dracula and Frankenstein's creature.
298
00:27:11,372 --> 00:27:18,687
Universal also had another great asset, one of the most stylish
directors of his time
- James Whale.
299
00:27:20,282 --> 00:27:26,096
To use a much later term, I think
that Whale was the first horror auteur.
300
00:27:27,822 --> 00:27:29,287
He followed up Frankenstein
301
00:27:29,322 --> 00:27:32,582
with a series of increasingly
idiosyncratic films
302
00:27:32,617 --> 00:27:35,842
which reflected his own
rather complex personality.
303
00:27:40,202 --> 00:27:44,107
In 1932,
Whale made The Old Dark House,
304
00:27:44,142 --> 00:27:47,337
perhaps the definitive take
on that classic scenario
305
00:27:47,372 --> 00:27:54,682
in which lost strangers stumble across an
isolated house, and open a Pandora's box of menace.
306
00:27:54,717 --> 00:27:57,262
The road's blocked on both sides,
landslides.
307
00:27:57,297 --> 00:28:00,231
HE GROANS
308
00:28:01,902 --> 00:28:05,429
Even Welsh ought not
to sound like that.
309
00:28:07,622 --> 00:28:10,637
The brutal butler
was played by Boris Karloff,
310
00:28:10,672 --> 00:28:15,222
once again unrecognizable
under Jack Pierce's make-up.
311
00:28:15,257 --> 00:28:18,646
And the film's leading lady
was Gloria Stuart.
312
00:28:20,282 --> 00:28:23,614
She remembers how,
unlike many directors of the day,
313
00:28:23,649 --> 00:28:26,946
Whale exerted exceptional control
over the production.
314
00:28:28,482 --> 00:28:32,842
He had said several times,
"I go over the script
315
00:28:32,877 --> 00:28:37,777
"the night before
the morning I shoot. "
316
00:28:37,812 --> 00:28:44,712
He made it very clear to all of us
that he had prepared the script.
317
00:28:44,747 --> 00:28:48,137
And it was unusual.
318
00:28:48,172 --> 00:28:54,272
He took very special care of me
and was very critical.
319
00:28:54,307 --> 00:28:56,852
Hurt my feelings a couple of times.
320
00:28:56,887 --> 00:28:58,357
He was very sharp.
321
00:28:58,392 --> 00:29:01,122
What sort of things
did he criticise you about?
322
00:29:01,722 --> 00:29:05,157
Diction, approach to the speech.
323
00:29:05,192 --> 00:29:13,022
He could stop you cold.
"No, Gloria, that's not it. "
324
00:29:13,057 --> 00:29:16,913
SHE WHIMPERS
325
00:29:18,832 --> 00:29:22,492
Whale's cultivated precision
belied his origins.
326
00:29:22,527 --> 00:29:24,797
He'd been born into
a working-class family
327
00:29:24,832 --> 00:29:30,742
in the black country town of Dudley, and he carefully
concealed his background behind a sardonic manner.
328
00:29:30,777 --> 00:29:37,302
He was also gay, and this may have further
encouraged his arch and rebellious sense of humour.
329
00:29:37,337 --> 00:29:43,402
As a result, The Old Dark House
is both menacing and blackly comic.
330
00:29:43,437 --> 00:29:47,677
You're wicked, too. Young and
handsome, silly and wicked.
331
00:29:47,712 --> 00:29:53,992
You think of nothing but your long, straight legs
and your white body and how to please your man.
332
00:29:54,027 --> 00:29:58,592
You revel in the joys
of fleshly love, don't you?
333
00:29:58,627 --> 00:30:00,807
That's fine stuff. But it'll rot.
334
00:30:00,842 --> 00:30:04,352
That's finer stuff still,
but it'll rot too, in time.
335
00:30:04,387 --> 00:30:07,317
Don't! How dare you?
336
00:30:07,352 --> 00:30:10,940
I think Whale was pioneering
what we now think of as camp -
337
00:30:10,975 --> 00:30:14,494
a knowing excess which is
as much about humour as shock.
338
00:30:14,529 --> 00:30:18,574
Maybe somewhat off-putting if you're just
expecting a straightforward horror film,
339
00:30:18,609 --> 00:30:24,239
but it may also explain why Whale's films have aged
so well compared with those of his contemporaries.
340
00:30:24,274 --> 00:30:25,704
THUNDER
341
00:30:25,739 --> 00:30:29,072
Mr Penderel! Miss DuCane!
342
00:30:33,609 --> 00:30:36,942
Mr Penderel! Miss DuCane!
343
00:30:43,319 --> 00:30:45,014
SHE SCREAMS
344
00:30:45,049 --> 00:30:49,224
This is a very famous scene
in which Boris menaces you.
345
00:30:49,259 --> 00:30:53,399
How was it to actually
make that scene with Boris Karloff?
346
00:30:53,434 --> 00:30:58,359
How do you get grabbed
by Karloff and look happy?
347
00:30:58,394 --> 00:31:01,654
HE LAUGHS
348
00:31:01,689 --> 00:31:06,289
You don't look happy. You look like
you've been grabbed and you're scared.
349
00:31:06,324 --> 00:31:10,409
I wouldn't know how to do it
any other way. It's acting.
350
00:31:10,444 --> 00:31:11,819
SHE LAUGHS
351
00:31:18,799 --> 00:31:23,679
Did you feel frightened
by being approached by him? Boris?
352
00:31:23,714 --> 00:31:26,546
He was a pussycat. Come on!
353
00:31:28,319 --> 00:31:31,459
No, I didn't feel frightened at all.
354
00:31:31,494 --> 00:31:35,407
He was always very gentlemanly.
355
00:31:38,309 --> 00:31:44,729
Carl Laemmle Junior now pleaded with Whale to make
a follow-up to their most successful collaboration.
356
00:31:44,764 --> 00:31:47,454
But Whale laid down a key condition.
357
00:31:47,489 --> 00:31:51,339
January 1935 saw James Whale
back on the Universal lot,
358
00:31:51,374 --> 00:31:53,771
making another
Frankenstein movie.
359
00:31:53,806 --> 00:31:56,169
He'd been tempted back
by the promise
360
00:31:56,204 --> 00:31:57,774
of complete creative control.
361
00:31:57,809 --> 00:32:01,929
It's hard to believe the studio knew
what they were letting themselves in for.
362
00:32:01,964 --> 00:32:04,944
Whale wasn't interested
in simply repeating himself.
363
00:32:04,979 --> 00:32:09,860
The film he had in mind was highly
personal, eccentric and quite extraordinary.
364
00:32:15,809 --> 00:32:19,069
In Bride Of Frankenstein,
Whale makes the monster
365
00:32:19,104 --> 00:32:22,294
an even more sympathetic victim
of a brutal society,
366
00:32:22,329 --> 00:32:28,655
at one point bringing this home with a scene
that's almost blasphemous in its blatant symbolism.
367
00:32:33,579 --> 00:32:36,249
But Whale's main focus
of interest in the film
368
00:32:36,284 --> 00:32:39,757
seems to be neither the monster
nor Frankenstein,
369
00:32:39,792 --> 00:32:43,231
but a new character -
a masterly camp creation.
370
00:32:45,479 --> 00:32:47,934
He's a very queer
looking old gentleman, sir.
371
00:32:47,969 --> 00:32:51,809
"I must see you, on a secret
grave matter", he said.
372
00:32:51,844 --> 00:32:53,844
"Tonight. Alone. "
373
00:32:53,879 --> 00:32:57,249
Bring him in. Henry, who is this man?
374
00:32:57,284 --> 00:32:59,080
Dr Pretorius.
375
00:33:02,359 --> 00:33:05,317
Baron Frankenstein now, I believe?
376
00:33:07,049 --> 00:33:13,329
Pretorius was played by Ernest Thesiger, an old
friend of Whale's from his theatre days in England.
377
00:33:13,364 --> 00:33:19,659
Between takes on set, Thesiger practised
needlepoint, at which he was highly accomplished.
378
00:33:19,694 --> 00:33:22,344
Alone, you have created a man.
379
00:33:22,379 --> 00:33:27,019
Now, together,
we will create his mate.
380
00:33:27,054 --> 00:33:29,525
You mean...?
381
00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:31,996
Yes. A woman.
382
00:33:33,539 --> 00:33:36,314
That should be really interesting.
383
00:33:36,349 --> 00:33:41,319
Pretorius is one of the most
subversive figures in 1930s cinema,
384
00:33:41,354 --> 00:33:43,574
a quite obviously
homosexual character
385
00:33:43,609 --> 00:33:49,525
pursuing a grotesque substitute for heterosexual
reproduction and loving every minute of it.
386
00:33:51,159 --> 00:33:55,107
To a new world of gods and monsters.
387
00:33:56,689 --> 00:34:00,439
The film builds to the climactic
unveiling of the bride,
388
00:34:00,474 --> 00:34:04,351
heralded by Pretorius
with a suitably queenly flourish.
389
00:34:04,386 --> 00:34:08,229
Resplendent in Jack Pierce's
Nefertiti-inspired make-up,
390
00:34:08,264 --> 00:34:10,659
she's a perverse idea of womanhood.
391
00:34:10,694 --> 00:34:13,662
The Bride of Frankenstein.
392
00:34:20,649 --> 00:34:22,899
A stitched together combination
393
00:34:22,934 --> 00:34:24,441
of daughter and mate,
394
00:34:24,476 --> 00:34:25,982
the bride is beautiful -
395
00:34:26,017 --> 00:34:27,454
in a wholly insane way.
396
00:34:27,489 --> 00:34:32,039
Bride Of Frankenstein was Whale's
greatest achievement as a director.
397
00:34:32,074 --> 00:34:35,244
It was also his last horror picture.
398
00:34:35,279 --> 00:34:42,264
Having pushed the genre as far as he wanted, Whale
was perhaps happy to let it symbolically collapse.
399
00:34:44,509 --> 00:34:49,435
And Hollywood horror really was in
an increasingly unstable position.
400
00:34:53,179 --> 00:34:58,249
In the early 1930s, America had
nothing approaching effective censorship
401
00:34:58,284 --> 00:35:03,309
and some films were pushing well
beyond the camp and the gothic
402
00:35:03,344 --> 00:35:06,221
into remarkably twisted,
sadistic territory.
403
00:35:07,249 --> 00:35:10,964
There was Mad Love,
in which a shaven-headed Peter Lorre
404
00:35:10,999 --> 00:35:14,981
grafted the hands of a murderer
onto a mutilated concert pianist.
405
00:35:19,859 --> 00:35:24,449
In Island Of Lost Souls, Charles
Laughton experimented on animals
406
00:35:24,484 --> 00:35:28,024
to create a race
of half-human creatures.
407
00:35:28,059 --> 00:35:34,396
And then there was The Black Cat, which climaxed
with Bela Lugosi flaying Boris Karloff alive.
408
00:35:35,469 --> 00:35:39,514
We only see it in silhouette,
but nevertheless...
409
00:35:39,549 --> 00:35:44,566
However, one film above all others from
the era remains notorious to this day.
410
00:35:46,669 --> 00:35:50,104
When I was about eight, I got the best
Christmas present I had ever received.
411
00:35:50,139 --> 00:35:54,549
In fact, it's the only Christmas I can remember
where all my other presents lay unopened
412
00:35:54,584 --> 00:35:56,664
because I was given
this wonderful book.
413
00:35:56,699 --> 00:36:02,189
Alan G Frank's The Movie Treasury Of Horror Movies,
which for many years became my absolute bible.
414
00:36:02,224 --> 00:36:06,471
And there was a time when I knew every
single page and every single picture.
415
00:36:06,506 --> 00:36:10,719
But there was one photograph that I used
to hurry past. In fact, I can remember
416
00:36:10,754 --> 00:36:15,236
paperclipping two pages together
in order to avoid looking at it.
417
00:36:15,271 --> 00:36:19,719
And it's no wonder. It was a still
from the 1932 film, Freaks.
418
00:36:21,319 --> 00:36:24,234
Freaks is a lurid
but wholly original saga
419
00:36:24,269 --> 00:36:28,349
of sexual manipulation and revenge,
set in a travelling sideshow.
420
00:36:28,384 --> 00:36:32,114
It was made by Tod Browning,
the director of Dracula,
421
00:36:32,149 --> 00:36:36,370
who boldly decided to use actual
carnival performers in the film.
422
00:36:37,909 --> 00:36:43,019
It was that blurring of fantasy and reality that
made the picture in the book so disturbing for me.
423
00:36:43,054 --> 00:36:46,069
This isn't a brilliant Jack Pierce
make-up job.
424
00:36:46,104 --> 00:36:47,855
These are real people.
425
00:36:50,379 --> 00:36:56,049
An early bad omen for the film's reception came
when the novelist and screenwriter F Scott Fitzgerald
426
00:36:56,084 --> 00:36:59,895
walked into the MGM canteen,
saw a pair of Siamese twins
427
00:36:59,930 --> 00:37:03,706
having their lunch,
and ran outside to throw up his own.
428
00:37:05,199 --> 00:37:09,789
For much of the film, Browning presents
the carnival characters sympathetically.
429
00:37:09,824 --> 00:37:13,069
But he also establishes
an uncomfortable sexual tension
430
00:37:13,104 --> 00:37:15,194
with the passion
of the midget, Hans,
431
00:37:15,229 --> 00:37:17,864
for the statuesque
trapeze artist, Cleopatra.
432
00:37:17,899 --> 00:37:22,359
She strings him along and poisons
him so she can inherit his fortune.
433
00:37:26,759 --> 00:37:29,429
When they discover Cleopatra's
deception,
434
00:37:29,464 --> 00:37:32,064
the other performers exact
a terrible revenge
435
00:37:32,099 --> 00:37:36,377
in a vividly staged sequence that's
like a primal, oozing nightmare.
436
00:37:38,149 --> 00:37:41,479
Characters who were earlier
portrayed with sensitivity
437
00:37:41,514 --> 00:37:44,691
and are now depicted as crawling,
squirming and menacing.
438
00:37:44,726 --> 00:37:47,869
It's a shameless case of
double standards from Browning.
439
00:37:49,639 --> 00:37:50,724
SHE SCREAMS
440
00:37:50,759 --> 00:37:52,919
But it can't be denied
that Freaks has one of the most
441
00:37:52,954 --> 00:37:55,324
memorable pay-offs in horror cinema,
442
00:37:55,359 --> 00:37:59,494
when we find out the true nature
of the revenge exacted on Cleopatra.
443
00:37:59,529 --> 00:38:05,899
It plays as both a grotesque reveal and
as the punchline to the blackest of jokes.
444
00:38:05,934 --> 00:38:08,999
Believe it or not, there she is.
445
00:38:09,034 --> 00:38:12,054
SHE SQUAWKS
446
00:38:12,089 --> 00:38:17,109
How can you fail to warm to a film in which
somebody is turned into a giant chicken woman?
447
00:38:17,144 --> 00:38:20,354
Well, ask the 1932 audience.
448
00:38:20,389 --> 00:38:23,774
Browning's film bombed
at the box office and MGM
449
00:38:23,809 --> 00:38:27,529
plucked it from the movie theatres
within a month of its release.
450
00:38:30,329 --> 00:38:32,999
Following costly controversies
like Freaks,
451
00:38:33,034 --> 00:38:34,983
backlashes from morality campaigners
452
00:38:35,018 --> 00:38:38,922
and actual bans in lucrative
foreign territories like Britain,
453
00:38:38,957 --> 00:38:45,430
Hollywood's enthusiasm for horror began
to wane almost as quickly as it had arisen.
454
00:38:46,507 --> 00:38:50,747
But seeking to earn extra cash
from its two original horror hits,
455
00:38:50,782 --> 00:38:54,987
Universal re-released Dracula and
Frankenstein as a double bill
456
00:38:55,022 --> 00:38:57,812
and was astonished
by their popularity.
457
00:38:57,847 --> 00:39:01,787
Even if the studios were losing
their appetite for horror,
458
00:39:01,822 --> 00:39:03,903
the public was hungry for more.
459
00:39:09,008 --> 00:39:13,458
The result was a second wind
for horror at the end of the '30s.
460
00:39:13,493 --> 00:39:16,830
Universal took the lead
with Son Of Frankenstein.
461
00:39:16,865 --> 00:39:20,086
Boris Karloff returned
with a remarkable cast,
462
00:39:20,121 --> 00:39:23,261
but James Whale's
high gothic camp was replaced
463
00:39:23,296 --> 00:39:26,401
by a more family-friendly,
swashbuckling approach.
464
00:39:28,747 --> 00:39:31,002
The film also introduced
a new face -
465
00:39:31,037 --> 00:39:35,077
four-year-old Donnie Dunagan,
who played Basil Rathbone's son.
466
00:39:35,112 --> 00:39:37,796
The grandson of Frankenstein,
if you will.
467
00:39:42,338 --> 00:39:45,692
Well, hello! Good morning, son.
468
00:39:45,727 --> 00:39:49,012
Did you have a nice sleep? Yes.
469
00:39:49,047 --> 00:39:51,352
So, Donnie, great pleasure
to meet you.
470
00:39:51,387 --> 00:39:54,298
I think I really should just say,
"Well, hello!"
471
00:39:54,333 --> 00:39:55,440
Well, hello!
472
00:39:55,475 --> 00:39:57,041
THEY LAUGH
473
00:39:57,076 --> 00:39:58,573
Right on.
474
00:39:58,608 --> 00:40:03,717
Donnie's biggest claim to fame is that he
would later be the voice of Disney's Bambi,
475
00:40:03,752 --> 00:40:06,212
but for me,
the thrill lies in meeting someone
476
00:40:06,247 --> 00:40:09,338
who can give a first hand account
of working with perhaps
477
00:40:09,373 --> 00:40:12,580
the greatest cast
of any classic horror film.
478
00:40:14,167 --> 00:40:18,342
The first time I met Boris Karloff, the
first thing he did was bought me ice-cream.
479
00:40:18,377 --> 00:40:22,517
Now how can you possibly be afraid of
somebody who bought you ice-cream, right?
480
00:40:22,552 --> 00:40:24,823
The first time I saw him then,
in costume,
481
00:40:24,858 --> 00:40:27,962
and I shouldn't have done this
cos it disrupted things,
482
00:40:27,997 --> 00:40:32,877
I busted out laughing. "Cut. Take
four. " "Donnie, quit laughing. "
483
00:40:32,912 --> 00:40:34,890
"Cut. Take six. "
484
00:40:38,688 --> 00:40:41,597
This playfulness on the set
is reflected in the film,
485
00:40:41,632 --> 00:40:43,812
which has sparkle and humour,
486
00:40:43,847 --> 00:40:47,232
particularly in the form
of Bela Lugosi, who,
487
00:40:47,267 --> 00:40:52,848
as the bodysnatcher Ygor, slides
nimbly between menace and mischief.
488
00:40:52,883 --> 00:40:56,498
I think it's the best performance
he ever gave.
489
00:40:56,533 --> 00:40:57,772
He's alive!
490
00:41:03,488 --> 00:41:05,408
How long has he been here?
491
00:41:05,443 --> 00:41:07,812
Long time.
492
00:41:07,847 --> 00:41:10,583
It's my friend.
493
00:41:10,618 --> 00:41:15,258
He... he does things for me.
494
00:41:15,293 --> 00:41:19,863
Has he always been here?
495
00:41:19,898 --> 00:41:25,237
Nearly always.
This is place of the dead.
496
00:41:25,272 --> 00:41:27,872
We're all dead here.
497
00:41:27,907 --> 00:41:30,783
Some of the crew would applaud him.
498
00:41:30,818 --> 00:41:34,658
I don't remember getting applauded.
They laughed at me, you know?
499
00:41:34,693 --> 00:41:38,178
When he was around,
people paid keen attention.
500
00:41:38,213 --> 00:41:41,178
And I was at least
aware enough to know,
501
00:41:41,213 --> 00:41:43,820
boy, this is a real performance.
502
00:41:43,855 --> 00:41:46,392
Quiet. That'll be all, Ygor.
503
00:41:46,427 --> 00:41:49,058
Go back to Castle Frankenstein
and be careful.
504
00:41:49,093 --> 00:41:52,243
HE COUGHS
505
00:41:55,287 --> 00:41:58,722
Hey! You spit on me!
506
00:41:58,757 --> 00:42:03,778
I'm sorry, I cough. You see,
bone get stuck in my throat.
507
00:42:03,813 --> 00:42:06,451
HE COUGHS
508
00:42:08,368 --> 00:42:12,538
While Karloff had gone from strength
to strength since his breakthrough,
509
00:42:12,573 --> 00:42:14,472
Lugosi's fortunes had been mixed.
510
00:42:14,507 --> 00:42:19,251
So much so that Universal were able to
secure his services at a knock-down rate.
511
00:42:20,787 --> 00:42:26,227
They tried to hire him cheaper cos they
heard that he was having economic difficulty.
512
00:42:26,262 --> 00:42:31,898
And Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff
stood up against the studio on that,
513
00:42:31,933 --> 00:42:35,663
and ensured that he had
a more responsible salary.
514
00:42:35,698 --> 00:42:41,978
And apparently, he responded to all that
help, because his performance was magnificent.
515
00:42:42,013 --> 00:42:45,220
There's a real twinkle in his eye,
isn't there? Yeah, yeah.
516
00:42:47,557 --> 00:42:51,552
This is a film that seeks
to entertain rather than horrify,
517
00:42:51,587 --> 00:42:57,547
and Lugosi's gleeful malevolence is balanced by a
warmth between Donnie's character and the monster.
518
00:42:57,582 --> 00:43:01,592
Whereas Little Maria was thrown
in the lake in the first film,
519
00:43:01,627 --> 00:43:06,917
the monster refuses to harm the boy despite
being sent to kidnap him by the vengeful Ygor.
520
00:43:09,637 --> 00:43:15,092
Did you feel that there was a sort of connection
between the child and the monster? I know there was.
521
00:43:15,127 --> 00:43:21,498
And I think holding me like this, as opposed to some
other more violent thing, I think that was his idea.
522
00:43:21,533 --> 00:43:25,690
They had him hold me like this
for two takes, and he dropped me.
523
00:43:25,725 --> 00:43:29,847
I bounced off of the floor.
That was a hard deck down there.
524
00:43:29,882 --> 00:43:33,927
And then they decided
to wire me to him.
525
00:43:33,962 --> 00:43:35,979
If everybody would look carefully,
526
00:43:36,014 --> 00:43:37,997
you'll see it's an artificial hand.
527
00:43:38,032 --> 00:43:39,189
It's a little phoney,
528
00:43:39,224 --> 00:43:40,312
so he couldn't drop me.
529
00:43:40,347 --> 00:43:43,487
The thought occurred to me,
I've got to be the only guy
530
00:43:43,488 --> 00:43:47,517
still sucking air in this world that
can say, "I was wired to Frankenstein!"
531
00:43:47,552 --> 00:43:49,018
MARK LAUGHS
532
00:43:50,987 --> 00:43:52,545
Daddy, Daddy!
533
00:43:55,157 --> 00:43:58,503
THE MONSTER SCREAMS
534
00:43:58,538 --> 00:44:02,053
Of course, by now, the audience
knew that it would take more than
535
00:44:02,088 --> 00:44:05,568
plunging into a pit of sulphur to
finish off the monster for good.
536
00:44:05,603 --> 00:44:08,427
But as far as Karloff's
portrayal was concerned,
537
00:44:08,462 --> 00:44:10,440
this really was the final curtain.
538
00:44:12,128 --> 00:44:17,392
He was grateful,
really grateful to that role.
539
00:44:17,427 --> 00:44:21,267
And he sometimes referred to the
creature in interviews as his best friend.
540
00:44:21,302 --> 00:44:27,734
But he felt that the films and the
role had gone as far as it could
541
00:44:27,769 --> 00:44:34,167
or should without the creature
becoming the brunt of bad scripts,
542
00:44:34,202 --> 00:44:38,433
bad jokes, and he didn't want
to be any part of that.
543
00:44:41,427 --> 00:44:44,493
He could see a downward trend
544
00:44:44,528 --> 00:44:48,510
and he didn't want to take
his friend down that path.
545
00:44:50,707 --> 00:44:55,538
Few of Universal's horror productions now
had the quality of Son Of Frankenstein.
546
00:44:55,573 --> 00:45:00,125
By the 1940s, the studio was
increasingly busy making sequels.
547
00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:04,642
Not just to Frankenstein, but also
to its own original properties.
548
00:45:04,677 --> 00:45:10,022
These included The Mummy and The
Wolf Man, both of whom were played by
549
00:45:10,057 --> 00:45:15,367
Lon Chaney's son, Lon Chaney Junior,
something of a sequels regular.
550
00:45:15,402 --> 00:45:18,837
This production-line approach
showed how Universal's monsters
551
00:45:18,872 --> 00:45:20,997
had gone from being
terrifying bogeymen
552
00:45:21,032 --> 00:45:22,316
to familiar favourites.
553
00:45:28,397 --> 00:45:30,762
But surprisingly,
it was a rival studio's attempt
554
00:45:30,797 --> 00:45:37,637
to create its own monster parade that would take
horror cinema back into the shadows where it belonged,
555
00:45:37,672 --> 00:45:41,300
and exert an influence on film-makers
that continues to this day.
556
00:45:47,477 --> 00:45:49,695
CAR ENGINE STARTS UP
557
00:46:01,498 --> 00:46:04,080
GROWLING
558
00:46:20,997 --> 00:46:28,027
No studio looked more enviously at Universal's
money-spinning menagerie of monsters than RKO.
559
00:46:28,062 --> 00:46:31,232
Yes, the same RKO
which made Citizen Kane
560
00:46:31,267 --> 00:46:35,812
and needed to make quick cash
following that magnificent flop.
561
00:46:35,847 --> 00:46:40,357
Across the centuries comes this
exciting story of a modern girl
562
00:46:40,392 --> 00:46:42,164
cursed by an ancient legend.
563
00:46:42,199 --> 00:46:43,937
The legend of the Cat People.
564
00:46:46,458 --> 00:46:48,238
During the early 1940s,
565
00:46:48,273 --> 00:46:49,983
RKO released a string of
566
00:46:50,018 --> 00:46:53,453
sensationally-titled
horror pictures.
567
00:46:53,488 --> 00:46:58,267
But the actual films showed a subtle
mastery of the psychology of horror
568
00:46:58,302 --> 00:47:00,383
that was quite revolutionary.
569
00:47:04,368 --> 00:47:11,069
All were produced by Val Lewton, who was
appointed Head of the RKO Horror Unit in 1942.
570
00:47:13,507 --> 00:47:18,237
Lewton's budgets were tight, and
his bosses' policy was to choose
571
00:47:18,272 --> 00:47:20,223
a commercial-sounding title first
572
00:47:20,258 --> 00:47:22,703
and then commission
a screenplay to fit.
573
00:47:22,738 --> 00:47:26,727
But within these limits, Lewton
was given a free creative hand.
574
00:47:26,762 --> 00:47:30,060
And he played it very cleverly.
575
00:47:31,178 --> 00:47:33,733
Lewton's first horror picture
was Cat People,
576
00:47:33,768 --> 00:47:36,461
the story of a woman
who turns into a panther
577
00:47:36,496 --> 00:47:39,155
when caught in the throes
of passion or jealousy.
578
00:47:49,187 --> 00:47:53,556
The film's most celebrated set pieces
show her love rival being stalked.
579
00:48:04,137 --> 00:48:07,607
Lewton realised that his restricted
budgets weren't a disadvantage,
580
00:48:07,642 --> 00:48:10,482
because in horror,
less could be more.
581
00:48:10,517 --> 00:48:14,317
Monsters didn't have to be seen,
just suggested.
582
00:48:22,377 --> 00:48:24,262
He also understood
that a good shock
583
00:48:24,297 --> 00:48:28,848
didn't have to be caused by something
explicit or even intrinsically frightening.
584
00:48:40,657 --> 00:48:43,012
SCREECHING BRAKES
585
00:48:43,047 --> 00:48:48,207
That technique of a slow build-up
followed by a sudden but unthreatening jolt
586
00:48:48,242 --> 00:48:52,392
has become known, appropriately
enough, as a Lewton bus.
587
00:48:52,427 --> 00:48:57,017
You can spot Lewton buses in much
more recent and famous films.
588
00:48:57,052 --> 00:49:00,592
This scene from The Exorcist
plays as pure Lewton.
589
00:49:00,627 --> 00:49:03,487
Director William Friedkin uses
the shadows in the attic
590
00:49:03,522 --> 00:49:05,737
to keep our nerves
on a hair trigger.
591
00:49:05,772 --> 00:49:07,295
CLATTERING
592
00:49:17,317 --> 00:49:18,742
SHE SCREAMS
593
00:49:18,777 --> 00:49:21,707
INDISTINGUISHABLE VOICE
Oh, Carl.
594
00:49:21,742 --> 00:49:24,602
Jesus Christ, Carl, don't do that.
595
00:49:24,637 --> 00:49:26,837
But not everyone
is so impressed by Lewton.
596
00:49:26,872 --> 00:49:31,302
I just think he's so overrated.
597
00:49:31,337 --> 00:49:34,568
Everybody worships Val Lewton
for a couple of scenes.
598
00:49:36,257 --> 00:49:38,557
The swimming pool scene. What?
599
00:49:38,592 --> 00:49:41,287
SCREECHING AND SCREAMING
600
00:49:43,807 --> 00:49:46,317
There's nothing
in the frame near her.
601
00:49:46,352 --> 00:49:48,899
It's just lighting. The pool's lit.
602
00:49:48,934 --> 00:49:51,412
She's in the middle of the pool.
603
00:49:51,447 --> 00:49:56,797
Nothing's going to get her. When it's
frightening is when there's something around you.
604
00:49:56,832 --> 00:49:59,432
There is an argument,
a very strong argument, I think,
605
00:49:59,467 --> 00:50:03,827
that you can do it and do it and do it and
then if you then don't deliver, you're cheating.
606
00:50:03,862 --> 00:50:05,382
I totally agree with that.
607
00:50:05,417 --> 00:50:10,337
But if you can, and if you have a monster
or a thing that looks pretty good, show it.
608
00:50:10,372 --> 00:50:14,558
Show it. I mean, Jurassic Park
done by Val Lewton would be nothing.
609
00:50:16,107 --> 00:50:19,065
But there are many reasons
to enjoy Lewton's work.
610
00:50:22,437 --> 00:50:28,017
He gave Boris Karloff some of the finest roles
of his career, in films like The Body Snatcher,
611
00:50:28,052 --> 00:50:31,017
which showcased the range
of his acting ability.
612
00:50:31,052 --> 00:50:32,482
There, Master Ferris.
613
00:50:32,517 --> 00:50:35,707
Sooner than we thought.
A stroke of luck, you might say.
614
00:50:35,742 --> 00:50:38,107
Good.
615
00:50:39,167 --> 00:50:41,482
Why, that's the street singer.
616
00:50:41,517 --> 00:50:44,847
I know her, I tell you. She was
alive and hearty only this evening.
617
00:50:44,882 --> 00:50:47,812
It's impossible she can be dead.
618
00:50:47,847 --> 00:50:50,467
You could not have gotten
this body fairly.
619
00:50:50,502 --> 00:50:53,277
You're entirely mistaken.
620
00:50:55,297 --> 00:50:59,051
You'd better give me my money
and make the proper entry.
621
00:51:01,067 --> 00:51:05,152
In this film, Karloff once again
plays alongside Bela Lugosi.
622
00:51:05,187 --> 00:51:10,767
But Lugosi is relegated to a secondary
role, quite literally overpowered by Karloff.
623
00:51:10,802 --> 00:51:14,184
No, put your hand down.
624
00:51:14,219 --> 00:51:16,717
How can I show you, man?
625
00:51:16,752 --> 00:51:19,216
This is how they did it.
626
00:51:29,707 --> 00:51:34,207
There's something very resonant about
the different fates of these two men,
627
00:51:34,242 --> 00:51:37,597
who both played such a crucial role
in establishing horror cinema.
628
00:51:42,127 --> 00:51:45,562
Lugosi, who always felt he was
cut out for something better,
629
00:51:45,597 --> 00:51:51,183
and Karloff, grateful to horror
for his unexpected and late success.
630
00:51:54,977 --> 00:52:00,037
Wow. Doesn't everybody
have a room like this?
631
00:52:00,072 --> 00:52:02,567
I would like a bathroom like this.
632
00:52:02,602 --> 00:52:04,312
Wow.
633
00:52:04,347 --> 00:52:09,277
Karloff went on to enjoy regular work in film
and television for the rest of his career,
634
00:52:09,312 --> 00:52:11,997
and lived long enough
to enjoy some of the respect
635
00:52:12,032 --> 00:52:13,412
that eventually came to him
636
00:52:13,447 --> 00:52:17,862
as a pivotal figure
in 20th century popular culture.
637
00:52:17,897 --> 00:52:25,642
These are the stamps from 1997,
the classic movie monster stamps.
638
00:52:25,677 --> 00:52:31,167
My father was on two of them, one for
Frankenstein and one for The Mummy.
639
00:52:31,202 --> 00:52:36,739
And then later, in 2003,
there was a set of ten stamps
640
00:52:36,774 --> 00:52:42,242
that depicted the various disciplines
of film -making.
641
00:52:42,277 --> 00:52:46,077
And my father's face was selected
for the discipline of make-up.
642
00:52:46,112 --> 00:52:50,764
So I've been told by stamp collectors
that my father was
643
00:52:50,799 --> 00:52:53,876
the only person other than
a President
644
00:52:53,911 --> 00:52:56,919
who has been on more than two stamps.
645
00:52:56,954 --> 00:53:00,200
So he's been on three stamps,
really quite an honour.
646
00:53:00,235 --> 00:53:05,025
Karloff never strayed too far from the horror
genre, but he never seemed too worried by that.
647
00:53:06,514 --> 00:53:11,679
Bela Lugosi, however, seemed trapped
on the treadmill of horror sequels.
648
00:53:13,224 --> 00:53:17,205
Lugosi had tried to avoid being
typecast in Dracula-like roles,
649
00:53:17,240 --> 00:53:19,939
and had not actually played
the Count since his debut.
650
00:53:19,974 --> 00:53:24,094
But struggling with his finances and
his health, he was finally forced to
651
00:53:24,129 --> 00:53:27,514
re-embrace the role that had defined
him in the public imagination.
652
00:53:27,549 --> 00:53:31,784
In 1948, he took up
Dracula's cape once again
653
00:53:31,819 --> 00:53:33,991
in an Abbott and Costello movie.
654
00:53:35,954 --> 00:53:38,130
It could have been
the final humiliation,
655
00:53:38,165 --> 00:53:42,389
but Lugosi brings a dignity
and a knowing humour to the role.
656
00:53:42,424 --> 00:53:47,954
I think this second performance as the
Count now stands up better than the first.
657
00:53:47,989 --> 00:53:53,675
I must say, my dear, I approve
very highly of your choice.
658
00:53:53,710 --> 00:53:57,004
What we need today is young blood.
659
00:53:57,039 --> 00:53:59,880
And brains.
660
00:53:59,915 --> 00:54:02,969
What's surprising about Abbott
and Costello meet Frankenstein
661
00:54:03,004 --> 00:54:07,504
is that amongst the comedy, it
boasts some striking horror sequences.
662
00:54:07,539 --> 00:54:08,969
SCREAMING
663
00:54:09,004 --> 00:54:12,284
Look at what happens
to the woman in this scene.
664
00:54:12,319 --> 00:54:14,263
Chick, do you believe me now? Yes.
665
00:54:19,324 --> 00:54:22,694
Against all the odds,
the film is a fine, final flourish
666
00:54:22,729 --> 00:54:24,673
of the Universal horror cycle.
667
00:54:37,934 --> 00:54:43,474
But Lugosi's own horror career had an
unexpected last act that took it full circle.
668
00:54:48,524 --> 00:54:52,984
In 1951, he was invited
to Britain to star in a revival
669
00:54:53,019 --> 00:54:54,576
of the Dracula stage play.
670
00:54:56,214 --> 00:54:59,929
Lugosi now found himself performing
in towns like Eastbourne,
671
00:54:59,964 --> 00:55:04,274
in the sort of regional theatres where the play
had first been seen a quarter of a century before.
672
00:55:04,309 --> 00:55:06,770
It must have felt
a long way from Hollywood.
673
00:55:06,805 --> 00:55:13,096
The tour seemed to test not only Lugosi's
drawing power, but that of the Count himself.
674
00:55:18,245 --> 00:55:21,449
The producers hoped
for a West End run
675
00:55:21,484 --> 00:55:28,003
but no-one would take them on until the production
had first proved its profitability outside of London.
676
00:55:30,574 --> 00:55:38,174
Lugosi's leading lady on the tour was the English
actress Sheila Wynn, who played the role of Lucy Seward.
677
00:55:38,209 --> 00:55:42,387
Why do you think Lugosi
took on the tour?
678
00:55:42,422 --> 00:55:46,530
I think he felt his career
was sinking.
679
00:55:46,565 --> 00:55:50,569
He was becoming less well known
and less important.
680
00:55:50,604 --> 00:55:54,539
And I think he had a great hope
that to come to England
681
00:55:54,574 --> 00:56:01,047
and play in the West End would
bring his prestige right up again.
682
00:56:03,254 --> 00:56:08,834
And when the management sent the tour
out, I don't think they realised
683
00:56:08,869 --> 00:56:11,279
that the audiences had become
684
00:56:11,314 --> 00:56:16,284
much more sophisticated, and they
were inclined to giggle every night.
685
00:56:16,319 --> 00:56:19,159
They didn't at Brighton,
I don't think,
686
00:56:19,194 --> 00:56:23,519
and they certainly didn't in Belfast,
where they screamed,
687
00:56:23,554 --> 00:56:29,784
but there was a bit of giggling in
Golders Green and also in Manchester.
688
00:56:29,819 --> 00:56:35,554
And I think this distressed Bela
very much indeed.
689
00:56:35,589 --> 00:56:39,231
He once said to me, "You know,
690
00:56:39,266 --> 00:56:42,874
"Dracula is Hamlet to me. "
691
00:56:45,534 --> 00:56:48,822
Regional theatres were as far
as the Dracula revival got.
692
00:56:51,445 --> 00:56:53,845
Lugosi never achieved
the comeback he sought.
693
00:56:56,885 --> 00:57:01,334
He died five years later and,
perhaps having finally come to terms
694
00:57:01,369 --> 00:57:05,784
with the role he could never escape,
was buried in his Dracula cape.
695
00:57:15,074 --> 00:57:20,050
Why did audiences which had once
thrilled at horror now laugh at it?
696
00:57:20,085 --> 00:57:24,829
Lugosi's tour showed how little horror had
really moved on since its heyday in the 1930s.
697
00:57:27,634 --> 00:57:30,501
Meanwhile, the world
had entered an atomic age.
698
00:57:31,944 --> 00:57:34,475
Hollywood responded with
a new set of terrors -
699
00:57:34,510 --> 00:57:35,849
science fiction monsters
700
00:57:35,884 --> 00:57:41,045
that would be defeated by scientists and
soldiers, not with a stake or a silver bullet.
701
00:57:41,080 --> 00:57:43,343
SHE SCREAMS
702
00:57:46,014 --> 00:57:51,737
By the early 1950s, horror cinema was pretty
much extinct, after barely two decades.
703
00:57:59,134 --> 00:58:04,857
But of course, it's just when you think the
monster's dead that it comes back. Stronger.
704
00:58:08,794 --> 00:58:11,604
Next time,
full colour vampire lust
705
00:58:11,605 --> 00:58:13,995
and gushing gore...
706
00:58:14,030 --> 00:58:15,599
GUNSHOT
707
00:58:15,634 --> 00:58:18,603
.. as Britain's Hammer Films
conquer the world.
708
00:58:23,845 --> 00:58:27,030
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
709
00:58:27,065 --> 00:58:30,215
E- mail subtitling@bbc. co. uk
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